SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
(1 Kings 19: 1-8) "And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword." (2) "Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time." (3) "And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there." (4) "But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." (5) "And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat." (6) "And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again." (7) "And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee." (8) "And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God."
(James 5:17-18) (17) "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." (18) "And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."
(Job 11:13-18)) ( 13) "If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;" (14) "If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles." (15) "For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:" (16) "Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:" (17) "And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning." (18) "And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety."
PREFACE SUMMARY
Dear reader, this is a much-needed message today, especially with all the fear, death, wars, and the recent pandemic that affected nations throughout the world causing people to get a vague understanding that life is uncertain.
Saints, his message is about a powerful Prophet of God who had just experienced a revival at the top of Mount Carmel by defeating Jezebel's prophets, only to leave everything and run for his life.
Beloved, his defeat over the powers of darkness at Mt. Carmel caused the wicked Jezebel to place a death sentence upon his life, and this message is about the everyday trials we face that are sometimes so severe that our prayers run out of words and become a cry, but how many know that the scriptures tell us in (Psalms 34:15) "The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry?"
Dear reader, the bottom line of this message is, "When running the Christian race, it's essential to focus on overcoming obstacles by seeking guidance from God rather than allowing our problems to cloud our perception of Him."
Beloved, what should Christians do when they face impossible trials that leave them at a loss for words, well dear reader, in this article, we are going to learn some valuable lessons from God's prophet, who was able to pray a prayer that shut up the heavens for three years and six months and a prayer that caused the fire of God to fall, consuming the altar including licking up the barrels of water that they had soaked it with.
Beloved, through the life of this prophet, we are going to learn what we need to do when our faith gets weak, causing us to run into the clutches of a spirit of fear, and not allow that fear to make us lose our focus on the one who promised never to leave us his children but promised to go with us all the way even to the end of the world.
FROM FAME TO DEFEAT
Dear reader, if we study the life of Elijah, we will discover that not only was he the prophet who foretold us of the coming messiah, but he was a prophet who several times had called fire down from heaven, which consumed captains along with their fifty battle-hardened soldiers who attempted to arrest him, and this is why I do not think that after his victory in defeating the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the grove at Mt. Carmel, that he was running from Jezebel, but my personal belief is, he wanted to get to a place that he may get some direction, and I believe this because he thought that he was the only real Prophet of God left on the planet.
Dear reader, we discover in the scriptures that Elijah ran till he was exhausted, then found himself a place to rest under a juniper tree where the Angel of God came and prepared a meal, informing him that he needed to rise and eat, informing him for that the journey ahead was still a long ways from where he was resting.
Beloved the angel informed him that he will need the refreshment of a good meal and a good night's sleep in-order to make the long journey.
Beloved, the Angel seemed to know where he was headed in his long journey, for we discover later that it was a cave that was located in the vicinity where God placed Moses in the cleft of a rock.
Dear Saints, it was in this hallow place that God and allowed Moses to see his hinder parts as he walked by; and this beloved, is why I believe that a man who had been surrounded by enemies and had God deliver him so many times, was not afraid of a heathen queen that threatened his life.
Dear reader, the lessons we can glean from the life of this man of God would be to understand that most low points in our life usually come after we have experienced a mighty move of God, such as a robust revival where we enjoyed the victory of watching God set his people free from oppressing spirits.
Beloved, do you not know that those same demons we faced in the spirit are going to meet us with an attitude when we come down out of the spirit to live our every day lives?
Saints, that is why I make it a habit to break the spirits of retaliation against me after a mighty move of God, especially after praying for someone through to their breakthrough, even after visiting the sick in the hospitals for the hospitals are full of evil spirits and the spirits do not die when the patient does.
Dear reader, it is not unusual for our prayer life to be affected after experiencing some trouble, but what about after we have experienced a powerful breakthrough?
Beloved, may I ask you a fundamental question "When did you experience a low point in your life, was it after you went through a failure, or was it after you got your breakthrough?"
Beloved, the bottom line to this entire message is that "Elijah like so many of us, ran from the fame of defeating Jezebel's prophets that ate at her table right into despair and defeat."
(James 5:17) informs us that Elijah was a man just like us and like us, the man of God had his high days and his low days which means that this man of God was human and beloved at this time in his life, this mighty Prophet of God was afraid.
Dear Saints, did you know that when we allow fear to overpower and dominate us, the fear will cause us to lose our focus and become paralyzed, which holds to the old saying, "They were paralyzed by fear."
Dear reader, did you know that fear is the opposite of faith, therefore beloved, doubt could be described as faith in despair which according to the dictionary is described as the complete loss or absence of hope.
Beloved, did you know that when running the Christian race, it's essential to focus on overcoming obstacles by seeking guidance from God rather than allowing our problems to cloud our perception of Him?
Beloved reader, the question for us to consider in this message would be, "Is our God in front of us, or is he behind us where instead of seeing him, all we see is the problem?
(Psalms 121:1-2) (1) "] I will lift my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." (2) "My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth."
Dear Saints, in this Psalms, David was speaking about looking to the hills of the Lord from whence cometh his help and his strength; he was not speaking of the physical hills around him, for if he had been talking about the surrounding physical mountains around him, he would be seeing the campfires of all his enemies camped in the same mountains he was camped in, and please remember beloved, that David was a wanted man.
Beloved, David was the man that instructed us to number our days, now he did not tell us to number our years, but to number our days for if we look back on our days, we can remember our accomplishments that we may not remember if we looked back on our years.
Dear reader, the wisdom we can glean from Psalms 121:1-2) is to realize that we can trust God to complete the work he began in us instructing us that his help and ours will come from the Lord who made heaven and earth, therefore as God's children, let us look to him who planned our life, the end from the beginning when we face impossible trials that leave us at a loss for words.
THE JOURNEY IS TREACHEROUS
Dear reader, we just learned in this message that Elijah, tired from his journey, took his rest under a juniper tree, sometimes known as a broom tree where an angel of the Lord was sent to minister to god's tired prophet.
Beloved, the scriptures in (1 Kings 19) in this study teach us that God sent an Angel to prepare Elijah a meal instructing the man of God to eat and get some sleep for the journey that was ahead would require him to be well rested.
Beloved reader, our question facing us today would be, "what do we do when we find ourselves in a predicament like Elijah's where we become so tired in our work that we become overwhelmed and need rest?"
Saints, please notice that I said tired in our work and not tired of our work, for there is a huge difference in becoming tired in the work of God and becoming tired of the work of God till we come to a place like Elijah where we fill like a failure and ask god to find someone else more qualified that can handle the pressure to do the work.
Dear reader, did you know that many churches today, especially after suffering through the COVID pandemic, are closing their doors because pastors are overwhelmed by all the stress they have to deal with?
Beloved reader, their stress comes not only comes from lazy church members but from a society that wants to take God out of everything causing them to become burnt out saying like Elijah that they have had enough.
Beloved, did you not know that many people attending church today are living with undue stress with no end in sight which takes a toll on their body causing them to become physically exhausted and overworked?
Saints, the spiritual warfare that pastors face today can not only hinder their spiritual growth, but it can also affect their health and well-being.
Dear reader, did you not know that if we put our hearts and our mind in the work of the Lord, we are going to get tired maybe even come to a place like Elijah where we throw ourselves down on the ground, asking God to take our assignment and give it to someone else?
Beloved, Elijah had convinced himself that he was a failure to himself and a failure to his forefathers, therefore beloved, are you reading this message right now feeling like you are all alone, well-beloved, the good news is that God is there where you are cooking our spiritual supper while we are sleeping?
Dear reader, did you know that God, who knows the end from the beginning, is waiting around the corner of our failure, not only working behind the scenes cooking our spiritual dinner for us but he is turning down the covers encouraging us to get some restful sleep, because beloved, his desire is to set your bush on fire, but he does not want it to be consumed in one night which better said would be, do not be so heavenly minded, that you are no earthly good for beloved the answer for us would be to bloom where we are planted and if the cloud is not moving, we need to rest in God and stay in our lane.
WHAT GOT US TO THIS PLACE IN OUR LIFE?
Dear reader, the sad truth is that many things can come our way to get us to the place of giving up, such as church splits, having a trusted friend stab us in the back, feeling like we have been abandoned as if we mean nothing to the church, or maybe we became victim to a cruel act that caused us to lose confidence in the church.
Beloved reader, have you even come to a cross roads in your life where you like the Prophet Elijah, feel like you have fell short in reaching your goals even coming to a place where you throw yourself down in your despair asking God to get someone more qualified to do the job?
Beloved, one thing this juniper tree experience will do for us is, "it will cause us to be brought to a new level of prayer, which may be without words."
Dear Saints, our prayer may come to a place where we run out of words and even become a cry, but I assure you that it will be a prayer that God will hear because the scripture in (Psalms 34:18-19) (18) "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." (19) "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all."
Beloved, these scriptures teach us that although our prayers may sometimes run out of words, a prayer coming from a sincere heart is one that God recognizes as a a silent plea for help, and the God of all comfort will hear our prayer and send help from above to not only encourage us in the fight but strengthen us to fight from the side of the victory that has already been won.
Saints, God not only wants to rescue us, but he desires to restore us the years that our bad choices along with our bad habits have taken from us for our God is a restorer and he is rich in mercy to all who will call upon his name.
Beloved reader, the sense of having failed in our assignment can lead to despair and discouragement which sometimes cause us to sink into depression, therefore, with this in mind, let us remember that Elijah, as God's Prophet, had experienced both victory and defeat, but God met him where he was and provided for his needs during his trial teaching us that the tree experience will condition us to become more sensitive to the things of God, which will prepare us to be more sensitive to the needs of God's people.
Beloved, the bottom line to this entire message can be summed up by saying that as people of faith, we will suffer setbacks and trials, but one thing is sure which gives us hope and that is to understand that our God is faithful, and if he calls you to it, he will help you get through it.
Dear Saints, our ministry cannot be outside of us, for there is no way to separate the ministry from the person; therefore, let us strive for perfection and lay hold of the hope that lies within making up our minds to become faith builders, including an encourager to the ones becoming weak in their faith assuring them that God will meet them like he did Elijah amid their need.
Dear reader, we find in the story of Elijah that he made it to his destination, which was roughly over one hundred miles, and at this location, the confused Prophet found himself in a cave that was located in the vicinity of the area where God placed Moses in the cleft of the rock and allowed him to see his hinder parts as he walked by.
(1 Kings 19:8-10 ) (8) "And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God." (9) "And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?" (10), "And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
(1 Kings 19:11-12) (11) "And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:" (12) "And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."
Beloved, the scriptures state that while he was in the cave, there was a strong wind that rent the mountains breaking the rocks in pieces which represents all the voices the devil can raise to come against you, to tear you down and cause you to lose your focus even your vision hoping you will get your eyes off of your assignment allowing the voices on the outside to get on the inside.
Dear reader, the scriptures state that the next thing to pass before the man of God would be an earthquake, which represents everything that you labored so hard for many years to build only to have it torn down overnight by some jealous people you had in your ministry, even in your inner circle.
Beloved, you are in a place now where you are wondering if God is your friend, but before you can entertain the thought, the scriptures speak of a fire that represents not only persecution from other believers but now your reputation, along with everything around you is going up in smoke causing your health to fail, but please take note that the scriptures state that although God allowed the wind, the earthquake and the fire, he was not in any of these physical disasters taking place around his prophet.
Dear reader, the scriptures inform us that for us to become a disciple of Jesus, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross but the problem today is that people want a gospel they can control, one that will allow the flesh to stay alive which plainly speaking means that they want a weekend experience that makes no demands on their life.
Beloved, it was not until after the fire passed before his prophet that God caused the man of God to hear his voice, therefore dear reader, when it looks like the devil is going for the juggler vein, you can rest in knowing that our God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and did not the Apostle Paul speak of being persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.
(2 Corinthians 4:8-9) (8) "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;" (9) "Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;"
THE VICTORY IS WORTH THE STRUGGLE
Dear reader, please notice that God met Elijah's physical need before ministering to him about his spiritual situation, for at this time in his life and ministry, the man of God needed some re-assurance concerning his assignment because in his mind, he thought he was the only real prophet left, but what he did not know was that God had reserved unto himself seven thousand prophets that had not bowed the knee to false idols.
Beloved, did you know that Jewish historians declare that Elijah's servant Obadiah had mortgaged his home and land during the famine to hide the prophets of God in caves to feed and protect them from the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel, so that God knowing all things would be able to comfort his prophet at a later time who thought he was the only one left?
Dear reader, we can find this story in the bible when we see the widow woman about to lose her sons because of a debt she could not pay, and did you know that the scriptures show us who her husband was, especially when she reminds the prophet Elisha of the faithfulness of her husband.
Beloved when we do a search study on who her husband was, we will discover that he was the servant of Elijah Obadiah, and there are scriptures where Gehazi was in the presence of a heathen King speaking concerning the ministry of Elijah when he points toward a woman that just came in concerning her need to be avenged of her adversary.
Dear reader, this gives us a glimpse of the mercy of God for if the curse of leprosy had still been on Gehazi and his three sons, he could not have been standing in the presence of a heathen king speaking about the ministry of Elijah, and beloved did you not know that there is a chance that Gehazi and his three sons which also received his punishment of leprosy, could have been the four lepers that left the stench of death in the city that was besieged and went to the camp of the enemy causing God to make the enemy become confused and run away leaving three days of goods for the starving people?
(2 kings 8:4-6) ](4) "And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done." (5) "And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life." (6) "And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now."
(2 kings 4:1-3) "Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen." (2) "And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil." (3) " Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few."
Dear reader, God not only caused the oil to flow until she had enough to pay off her debt, but she had enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life.
Beloved reader, if she could not have paid her debt, her sons would not be there to sow her crops and bring in her harvest which would cause her to not be able to pay her taxes, but God in his foreknowledge had already worked things out that he might be able to tell his confused prophet that was hiding in a cave that he was not alone in his assignment but there were many others that will come forth to do the work of the Lord.
Beloved, did you know that a cave can be a hiding place which can present an opportunity for us to be alone and hear God's voice, or a cave can become our grave?
Dear Saints, after the fire, the prophet heard the still small voice that not only assured him that God had reserved unto himself seven thousand prophets to carry on the work, but he instructed the prophet of God that he was to go find Elisha and train him to be his successor.
(1 Kings 19:15-16) (15) "[15] And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:" (16) "And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room."
"Then the Lord did what perhaps was best of all for Elijah, he gave him some more work to do. He sent him off about his Master’s business again; and I warrant you that, when Elijah went back over that road, it was with a very different step from that which brought him down to Beersheba. He had come along terrified and distressed; but now he goes back with the majesty that belongs to the Tishbite, he is afraid of no Jezebel now.” (Spurgeon)
"This showed Elijah that his quiet ministry over the years actually bore more fruit than the spectacular ministry at Mount Carmel. “Yet, all the while that vile idolatry was spreading in Israel, the worship of the true God was being retained by seven thousand faithful souls, though Elijah did not know that there was even one beside himself. How were they won to Jehovah? Certainly not by Elijah’s impressive demonstration on the top of Carmel, for they were loyal to the Lord before that… The still small voice had been doing for Israel what Elijah could not do” (Spurgeon).
MY CONCLUSION
Dear reader, God is waiting around the corner of your setback to speak to you and remember, beloved, he knows what it is like to be lied on, to be slandered, and know what it is like to have one of his own trusted followers turn on him even to the point of betraying him to his enemies so they can try him in a kangaroo court at night without representation which is totally against the law of Moses,.
Beloved, they scourged him with a whip laced with pieces of knotted lashes till his back was sliced open exposing his internal organs, but beloved that was not enough, they proceeded to crucify him on an old roman cross, fulfilling the scriptures in (Isaiah 53:10) "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."
Beloved, the scriptures teach us to keep our eyes on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith, and do they not teach us that Christ endured the cross despising the shame, and do they not tell us that he set down at the right hand of God?
Dear Saints and fellow peers, we have a high priest that has not only been made both Lord and Christ, but we have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities for he (the other Adam) was once a man like us having both a human spirit and a human soul, for to bear the sin debt of all mankind, he could not have been anything less than the first man Adam.
(Hebrews 12:1-2) (1) "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us," (2) "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Beloved reader, the bottom line to sum up this entire message would be that our purpose which drives our vision is what will see us through and things may come our way that might disrupt our life, even breaking our vision into a thousand pieces like a broken mirror, but what we need to understand is that God's purpose for which we are called will not allow the enemy to wipe out our vision and when we re-discover our purpose, we will find that each of the little pieces of the broken mirror, will still show our vision and the only thing different is that now our vision is not as big as we saw it before, but the good news is that it is still there.
International Evangelist
Jerry W. Hulse Ph.D.
Miracle Life Church International
